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111-693: The New York Mercantile Exchange ( NYMEX ) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago . NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan , New York City . The company's two principal divisions are the New York Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Exchange, Inc ( COMEX ), once separately owned exchanges. NYMEX traces its history to 1882 and for most of its history, as

222-432: A 50 mg tablet of calcium is of equal value to a consumer no matter what company produces and markets it, and as such, multivitamins are now sold in bulk and are available at any supermarket with little brand differentiation. Following this trend, nanomaterials are emerging from carrying premium profit margins for market participants to a status of commodification. There is a spectrum of commoditization, rather than

333-496: A backup computer system. This backup was in case of another terrorist attack or natural disaster in Lower Manhattan . NYMEX held a virtual monopoly on "open market" oil futures trading (as opposed to the "dark market" or over-the-counter market . However, in the early 2000s the electronically based exchanges started taking away the business of the open outcry markets like NYMEX. Enron 's online energy trading system

444-408: A binary distinction of "commodity versus differentiable product". Few products have complete undifferentiability and hence fungibility; even electricity can be differentiated in the market based on its method of generation (e.g., fossil fuel, wind, solar), in markets where energy choice lets a buyer opt (and pay more) for renewable methods if desired. Many products' degree of commoditization depends on

555-476: A brand name used by CME. By 2011, NYMEX open outcry trading was relegated for the most part to a small number of people trading options . In 2009 it was reported that holders of COMEX gold futures contracts experienced problems taking delivery of their metal. Along with chronic delivery delays, some investors received delivery of bars not matching their contract in serial number and weight. The delays could not be easily explained by slow warehouse movements, as

666-649: A commodity is an object or a good or service ("product" or "activity" ) produced by human labour . Objects are external to man. However, some objects attain " use value " to persons in this world, when they are found to be "necessary, useful or pleasant in life". "Use value" makes an object "an object of human wants", or "a means of subsistence in the widest sense". As society developed, people found that they could trade goods and services for other goods and services. At this stage, these goods and services became "commodities". According to Marx, commodities are defined as objects which are offered for sale or are "exchanged in

777-476: A decade, where commodities as a whole trade at a price that is greater than their long term moving average . A Super Cycle will usually occur when there is large industrial and commercial change in a country or world that requires more resources to support the change. As prices rise, goods and services that rely on commodities rise with them. There have been four super cycles over the last 120 years worldwide. The first commodity super cycle started in late 1890 and

888-420: A large business trading futures of Maine 's potato crop. According to Leah McGrath Goodman 's 2011 book The Asylum , manipulation in this market was commonplace, performed by various parties including potato inspectors and NYMEX traders. The worst incident was the 1970s potato bust, when Idaho potato magnate J. R. Simplot allegedly went short in huge numbers, leaving a large amount of contracts unsettled at

999-558: A lot of advice. Shortly thereafter, after substantial conversations, The IPE was formally launched and started trading Brent. Treat and his research staff then began looking for other oil products to trade. Gasoline was clearly next on the product list but there was a lot of debate about where the delivery point should be. The Gulf Coast was the easiest, but the exchange also looked at California markets, but decided they wouldn't work. Treat then started looking simultaneously at launching crude and later products options contracts. He found that

1110-584: A lots of new jobs and opportunities. In 2008 when the Great Recession hit it put a halt onto the supercycle as GDP's across the world tanked leaving many economies in recessions. The next or the fifth supercycle could arrive as the world enters the final phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and starts to build massive clean energy infrastructure in view of the commodity price increase. Maine Maine ( / m eɪ n / MAYN )

1221-438: A market". In the marketplace, where commodities are sold, "use value" is not helpful in facilitating the sale of commodities. Accordingly, in addition to having use value, commodities must have an "exchange value"—a value that could be expressed in the market. Prior to Marx, many economists debated as to what elements made up exchange value. Adam Smith maintained that exchange value was made up of rent , profit , labour and

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1332-507: A place for buyers and sellers to set the quality, standards, and establish rules of business. By the late 19th century there were about 1,600 marketplaces at ports and railroad stations . In 1872, a group of Manhattan dairy merchants got together and created the Butter and Cheese Exchange of New York. They were trying to bring order and standardization to the chaotic conditions that existed in their industry. Soon, egg trade became part of

1443-565: A quarter of the population of Lewiston, Waterville , and Biddeford are Franco-American. Most of the residents of the Mid Coast and Down East sections are chiefly of British heritage. Smaller numbers of various other groups, including Irish , Italian , Swedish and Polish , have settled throughout the state since the late 19th and early 20th century immigration waves. Today there are four federally recognized tribes in Maine, including

1554-543: A separate state. On March 15, 1820, under the Missouri Compromise , Maine was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state. Today, Maine is known for its jagged, rocky Atlantic Ocean and bay-shore coastlines, mountains, heavily forested interior, and its cuisine, particularly wild lowbush blueberries and seafood such as lobster and clams . Coastal and Down East Maine have emerged as important centers for

1665-750: Is a state in the New England region of the United States , and the northeastern most state in the Lower 48 . It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and northwest, and shares a maritime border with Nova Scotia . Maine is the largest state in New England by total area, nearly larger than

1776-423: Is a list of companies trading globally in commodities, descending by size as of October 28, 2011. In the original and simplified sense, commodities were things of value, of uniform quality, that were produced in large quantities by many different producers; the items from each different producer were considered equivalent. On a commodity exchange, it is the underlying standard stated in the contract that defines

1887-416: Is an instrument of labour"), even though they may not be produced specifically for the market, or be non-reproducible goods. Marx's analysis of the commodity is intended to help solve the problem of what establishes the economic value of goods, using the labour theory of value . This problem was extensively debated by Adam Smith , David Ricardo and Karl Rodbertus-Jagetzow among others. All three of

1998-547: Is evident with migratory birds like piping plovers , American oystercatcher , and northern harrier , as well as resident species like black-capped chickadees , blue jays , and barred owls . Wetlands provide habitat for amphibians such as spotted salamanders , wood frogs , and toads. Freshwater habitats support fish species like brook trout , landlocked salmon , and multiple gamefish , while marine life in offshore waters includes Atlantic puffins , harbor seals , minke whales , and lobster . Maine's abundance of lobster makes

2109-533: Is forested or unclaimed, the most forest cover of any U.S. state . In the wooded areas of the interior lies much uninhabited land, some of which does not have formal political organization into local units (a rarity in New England). The Northwest Aroostook unorganized territory in the northern part of the state, for example, has an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km ) and a population of 10, or one person for every 267 square miles (690 km ). Maine

2220-667: Is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome . The land near the southern and central Atlantic coast is covered by the mixed oaks of the Northeastern coastal forests . The remainder of the state, including the North Woods , is covered by the New England–Acadian forests . Maine has almost 230 miles (400 km) of ocean coastline (and 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of tidal coastline). West Quoddy Head in Lubec

2331-467: Is now Odanak . The other Abenaki tribes suffered several severe defeats, particularly during Dummer's War , with the capture of Norridgewock in 1724 and the defeat of the Pequawket in 1725, which significantly reduced their numbers. They finally withdrew to Canada , where they were settled at Bécancour and Sillery , and later at St. Francis, along with other refugee tribes from the south. Maine

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2442-531: Is part of a cultural region known as Acadia that goes over the border into New Brunswick . Along with the Acadian population in the north, many French-Canadians came from Quebec as immigrants between 1840 and 1930. The upper Saint John River valley area was once part of the so-called Republic of Madawaska , before the frontier was decided in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Over

2553-537: Is the easternmost point of land in the 48 contiguous states. Along the famous rock-bound coast of Maine are lighthouses, beaches, fishing villages, and thousands of offshore islands, including the Isles of Shoals which straddle the New Hampshire border. There are jagged rocks and cliffs and many bays and inlets. Inland are lakes, rivers, forests, and mountains. This visual contrast of forested slopes sweeping down to

2664-479: Is the most densely populated with nearly 40% of Maine's population. This area spans three counties and includes many farms and wooded areas; the 2016 population of Portland proper was 66,937. Maine has experienced a very slow rate of population growth since the 1990 census; its rate of growth (0.57%) since the 2010 census ranks 45th of the 50 states. In 2021 and 2022, however, Maine had the highest proportion of arriving residents to departing residents of any state in

2775-670: Is the sanctity of its contract." When the potato ban came into effect, NYMEX's platinum, palladium and heating oil markets were not significantly affected. However, NYMEX's reputation suffered in Washington, D.C., especially with the regulations in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the president of the exchange, Richard Leone brought in John Elting Treat, White House energy adviser to Presidents Carter and Reagan to help restore

2886-404: Is to the north and northeast, and the province of Quebec is to the northwest. Maine is the northernmost and largest state in New England, accounting for almost half of the region's entire land area. Maine is the only state to border exactly one other American state. Approximately half the area of Maine lies on each side of the 45th parallel north in latitude . Maine is the easternmost state in

2997-595: The Confederate Army during the Battle of Gettysburg . Four U.S. Navy ships have been named USS Maine , most famously the armored cruiser USS  Maine  (ACR-1) , whose sinking by an explosion on February 15, 1898, precipitated the Spanish–American War . To the south and east is the Gulf of Maine , and to the west is the state of New Hampshire . The Canadian province of New Brunswick

3108-546: The Contiguous United States both in its extreme points and its geographic center. The town of Lubec is the easternmost organized settlement in the United States. Its Quoddy Head Lighthouse is also the closest place in the United States to Africa and Europe. Estcourt Station is Maine's northernmost point, as well as the northernmost point in New England. (For more information see extreme points of

3219-493: The Eastern white pine . Coastal regions are characterized by hardy sea milkwort , sea-blight , bayberry , and the invasive rugosa rose . Maine's terrestrial fauna comprises mammals such as moose , black bears , and white-tailed deer , along with smaller species like red squirrels , snowshoe hares , and raccoons . Maine has the largest populations of moose and black bears in the contiguous United States. Avian diversity

3330-798: The Kennebec River and St. Croix River notionally became Cornwall County, Province of New York under a 1664 grant from Charles II of England to his brother James , at the time the Duke of York . Some of this land was claimed by New France as part of Acadia . All of the English settlements in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Province of New York became part of the Dominion of New England in 1686. All of present-day Maine

3441-521: The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) signed a lease agreement with the NYMEX to move into its World Financial Center headquarters and trading facility. NYMEX maintained a close relationship with many organizations and people at World Trade Center, and After the attacks, the NYMEX built a $ 12 million trading floor backup facility outside of New York City with 700 traders' booths, 2,000 telephones , and

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3552-545: The Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate and conflict with the local Indigenous people caused many to fail. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements had survived. Loyalist and Patriot forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution . During

3663-624: The Province of Maine in a 1622 land patent. The part of western Maine north of the Kennebec River was more sparsely settled and was known in the 17th century as the Territory of Sagadahock . A second settlement was attempted in 1623 by English explorer and naval Captain Christopher Levett at a place called York , where he had been granted 6,000 acres (24 km ) by King Charles I of England. It also failed. The 1622 patent of

3774-614: The United Arab Emirates . This was chronicled by Ben Mezrich in his New York Times Best Selling book Rigged which has been optioned for film adaptation by Summit Entertainment . The final executive management of NYMEX decided to sell it off in pieces, take golden parachute buyouts, and leave. In 2006 NYMEX underwent an initial public offering (IPO) and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange . The executives and exchange members owning seats on

3885-617: The Wabanaki Confederacy , aiding the Wampanoag of Massachusetts and the Mahican of New York . Afterwards, many of these people were driven from their natural territories, but most of Maine's tribes continued, unchanged, until the American Revolution . Before this point, however, most of these people were considered separate nations. Many had adapted to living in permanent, Iroquois -inspired settlements, while those along

3996-635: The War of 1812 , the largely undefended eastern region of Maine was occupied by British forces with the goal of annexing it to Canada via the Colony of New Ireland , but returned to the United States following failed British offensives on the northern border, mid-Atlantic and south which produced a peace treaty that restored the pre-war boundaries. Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820 when it voted to secede from Massachusetts to become

4107-579: The World Trade Center . Several NYMEX people were lost in the tragedy, even though the new NYMEX building itself was mostly undamaged. Despite the area's devastation, the exchange's management and staff quickly had the exchange working. The WTC/WFC art gallery, long located in the Nymex building, continued showing world and community art until 2012. The last-ever exhibit there was a solo show by actualist painter Terry Ward. On February 26, 2003,

4218-577: The brand , the user interface and the perceived quality. The demand for one type of stereo may be much larger than demand for another. The price of a commodity good is typically determined as a function of its market as a whole. Well-established physical commodities have actively traded spot and derivative markets. Soft commodities are goods that are grown, such as wheat , or rice . Hard commodities are mined . Examples include gold , silver , helium , oil , and Bitcoin . Energy commodities include electricity, gas, coal and oil. Electricity has

4329-510: The creative economy , especially in the vicinity of Portland , which has also brought gentrification to the city and its metropolitan area. The earliest known inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples, including the Passamaquoddy , Maliseet , Penobscot , Androscoggin , and Kennebec. During the later King Philip's War , many of these peoples would merge in one form or another to become

4440-711: The American Revolution and the War of 1812, with the British occupying eastern Maine in both conflicts via the Colony of New Ireland . The territory of Maine was confirmed as part of Massachusetts when the United States was formed following the Treaty of Paris ending the revolution, although the final border with British North America was not established until the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Maine

4551-471: The Latin commoditas , meaning "suitability, convenience, advantage". The Latin word commodus (from which English gets other words including commodious and accommodate ) meant variously "appropriate", "proper measure, time, or condition", and "advantage, benefit". In economics, the term commodity is used specifically for economic goods that have full or partial but substantial fungibility ; that is,

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4662-599: The OPEC producers was almost impossible to break through, although some finally gave in, among the first being Venezuela. The rumors on the floor at that time were the Arab producers would trade gold futures as a proxy for oil prices (since the Arabs were major purchasers of gold and would buy more when their pockets were filled by rising oil prices, and conversely sell when oil revenues fell and reduced their ability to buy gold). After

4773-585: The Province of Maine was split at the Piscataqua River into the Province of New Hampshire to the south and New Somersetshire to the north. A disputed 1630 patent split off the area around present-day Saco as Lygonia . Justifying its actions with a 1652 geographic survey that showed an overlapping patent, the Massachusetts Bay Colony had seized New Somersetshire and Lygonia by force by 1658. The Territory of Sagadahock between

4884-597: The United States ) Maine's Moosehead Lake is the largest lake wholly in New England, since Lake Champlain is located between Vermont , New York , and Quebec . A number of other Maine lakes, such as South Twin Lake , are described by Thoreau in The Maine Woods (1864). Mount Katahdin is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail , which extends southerly to Springer Mountain , Georgia , and

4995-452: The United States. According to the 2010 census , Maine has the highest percentage of non-Hispanic White of any state, at 94.4% of the total population. In 2011, 89.0% of all births in the state were to non-Hispanic White parents. Maine also has the second-highest residential senior population. According to HUD 's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report , there were an estimated 4,411 homeless people in Maine. The table below shows

5106-422: The above-mentioned economists rejected the theory that labour composed 100% of the exchange value of any commodity. In varying degrees, these economists turned to supply and demand to establish the price of commodities. Marx held that the "price" and the "value" of a commodity were not synonymous. Price of any commodity would vary according to the imbalance of supply to demand at any one period of time. The "value" of

5217-493: The business conducted on the exchange and the name was modified to the Butter, Cheese, and Egg Exchange. In 1882, the name finally changed to the New York Mercantile Exchange when opening trade to dried fruits , canned goods, and poultry . As centralized warehouses were built into principal market centers such as New York and Chicago in the early 20th century, exchanges in smaller cities began to disappear giving more business to

5328-639: The buyer's mentality and means. For example, milk, eggs, and notebook paper are not differentiated by many customers; for them, the product is fungible and lowest price is the main decisive factor in the purchasing choice. Other customers take into consideration other factors besides price, such as environmental sustainability and animal welfare. To these customers, distinctions such as " organic versus not" or " cage free versus not" count toward differentiating brands of milk or eggs, and percentage of recycled content or Forest Stewardship Council certification count toward differentiating brands of notebook paper. This

5439-406: The coast tended to move from summer villages to winter villages on a yearly cycle. They would usually winter inland and head to the coasts by summer. European contact with what is now called Maine may have started around 1200 CE when Vikings are believed to have interacted with the native Penobscot in present-day Hancock County , most likely through trade. If confirmed, this would make Maine

5550-430: The combined area of the remaining five states. Of the 50 U.S. states , it is the 12th-smallest by area , the 9th-least populous , the 13th-least densely populated , and the most rural. Maine's capital is Augusta , and its most populous city is Portland , with a total population of 68,408, as of the 2020 census . The territory of Maine has been inhabited by Indigenous populations for about 12,000 years, after

5661-443: The commodity markets through a commodity price index . In order to diversify their investments and mitigate the risks associated with inflationary debasement of currencies, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds allocate capital to non-listed assets such as a commodities and commodity-related infrastructure. The inventory of commodities, with low inventories typically leading to more volatile future prices and increasing

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5772-404: The commodity, not any quality inherent in a specific producer's product. Commodities exchanges include: Markets for trading commodities can be very efficient , particularly if the division into pools matches demand segments . These markets will quickly respond to changes in supply and demand to find an equilibrium price and quantity. In addition, investors can gain passive exposure to

5883-702: The contract had a chance of becoming a good object of trade on the floor. A new futures contract was carefully drawn up and trading began on a tiny scale in 1978. Some of the first users of NYMEX heating oil deliveries were small scale suppliers of people in the Northern United States. NYMEX's business threatened some entrenched interests like big oil and government groups like OPEC that had traditionally controlled oil prices. NYMEX provided an "open market" and thus transparent pricing for heating oil, and, eventually, crude oil, gasoline, and natural gas. NYMEX's oil futures contracts were standardized for

5994-399: The costs of wear and tear on the instruments of husbandry. David Ricardo , a follower of Adam Smith, modified Smith's approach on this point by alleging that labour alone is the content of the exchange value of any good or service. While maintaining that all exchange value in commodities was derived directly from the hands of the people that made the commodity, Ricardo noted that only part of

6105-412: The country, with 1.8 arrivals for every departure. The modest population growth in the state has been concentrated in the southern coastal counties; with more diverse populations slowly moving into these areas of the state. However, the northern, more rural areas of the state have experienced a slight decline in population from 2010 to 2016. As of 2020, Maine has the highest population age 65 or older in

6216-527: The credibility of NYMEX and to help the exchange explore the possibility of entering the petroleum market recognizing the great potential for moving well beyond the limited size of the New York Heating Oil market. When Leone left NYMEX in 1981 as a result of a strong disagreement with the NYMEX board, John Elting Treat was asked to replace him as president. The launching of the WTI crude oil contract

6327-414: The daily reports of these movements showed little activity. Because of these problems, there were concerns that COMEX did not have the gold inventory to back its existing warehouse receipts. Notes Bibliography Commodity In economics , a commodity is an economic good , usually a resource , that specifically has full or substantial fungibility : that is, the market treats instances of

6438-424: The delivery of West Texas Intermediate light, sweet crude oil to Cushing. The energy trading business took off, and NYMEX boomed. The open outcry floor became a cacophony of shouting traders and pit cards . The pits became a place where many people without much education or ability to fit into Wall Street could have a chance at being rich. Goodman's book tells the stories of many of the personalities that built

6549-711: The disputed areas containing land. Also in this easternmost area in the Bay of Fundy is the Old Sow , the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere . Maine is the least densely populated state east of the Mississippi River . It is called the Pine Tree State due to its largest distribution and presence of pine , including Pinus strobus and Pinus resinosa . Over 80% of its total area

6660-735: The early 1700s to Kahnewake , a Catholic Mohawk village near Montreal , where some were adopted and others ransomed. After the British defeated the French in Acadia in the 1740s, the territory from the Penobscot River east fell under the nominal authority of the Province of Nova Scotia , and together with present-day New Brunswick formed the Nova Scotia county of Sunbury , with its court of general sessions at Campobello. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during

6771-593: The early 70s. In the 1970s as world economies grew they needed more materials and energy to support expansion leading to increases in prices across the board. This boom came to an end as foreign investments fled as extractive industries became nationalized. The most recent of commodity super cycles began in 2000 as China joined the World Trade Organization . China was also in the beginning of their boom as industry and expansion took off. Workers moved into cities as emerging industries took off and offered

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6882-526: The entire length of the sound. These features also have made it attractive for boat builders, such as the prestigious Hinckley Yachts . Bubble Rock, a glacial erratic , is a large boulder perched on the edge of Bubble Mountain in Acadia National Park . By analyzing the type of granite, geologists discovered that glaciers carried Bubble Rock to its present location from near Lucerne , 30 miles (48 km) away. The Iapetus Suture runs through

6993-402: The exchange in this era. COMEX (Commodity Exchange, Inc), one of the exchanges that shared 4 World Trade Center with NYMEX, had traditionally looked down on NYMEX for being smaller and for having the toxic reputation from the potato bust. With NYMEX's energy trading boom, it became much larger and wealtheir than COMEX. On August 3, 1994, the NYMEX and COMEX finally merged under the NYMEX name. By

7104-446: The exchange must send its own independent brokers. Therefore, a few employees on the floor of the exchange represent a big corporation and the exchange employees only record the transactions and have nothing to do with the actual trade. Although mostly electronic since 2006, the NYMEX maintained a small venue, or "pit", that still practiced the open outcry trading system, in which traders employed shouting and complex hand gestures on

7215-525: The exchange saw their net worth increase by millions of dollars in a few hours - many of the pit traders, who leased their seats instead of owning, did not. Other parts of NYMEX were sold to private equity investors and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange . The CME got ownership of the physical facilities and began scrubbing the NYMEX logo and name off of various artifacts and closed the NYMEX museum. NYMEX eventually became little more than

7326-451: The exchange value of the commodity was paid to the worker who made the commodity. The other part of the value of this particular commodity was labour that was not paid to the worker—unpaid labour. This unpaid labour was retained by the owner of the means of production. In capitalist society, the capitalist owns the means of production and therefore the unpaid labour is retained by the capitalist as rent or as profit. The means of production means

7437-768: The exchanges such as the NYMEX in bigger cities. In 1933, the COMEX was established through the merger of four smaller exchanges; the National Metal Exchange, the Rubber Exchange of New York, the National Raw Silk Exchange, and the New York Hide Exchange. Through the 1970s, 80's and 90's COMEX, NYMEX, and other exchanges shared a single trading floor in 4 World Trade Center . For years, the NYMEX traders had done

7548-511: The existing NYMEX floor traders didn't have the mathematical skills necessary to trade options, so the exchange offered financial inducements to get members of the American Stock Exchange's options traders to come over and trade options on petroleum futures. Under Treat's leadership, NYMEX also began to research the potential for trading natural gas and electricity, but focused first on natural gas. Product quality of natural gas

7659-456: The expiration date, resulting in a large number of defaulted delivery contracts. A public outcry followed, and the newly created Commodity Futures Trading Commission held hearings. NYMEX was barred not only from continuing to trade in potatoes futures, but from entering any new area in which it hadn't traded before. NYMEX's reputation was severely damaged, because, as future chairman Michel Marks told Goodman in his book, "The essence of an exchange

7770-653: The following year, keeping a balance between slave and free states. Maine's original state capital was Portland, Maine's largest city, until it was moved to the more central Augusta in 1832. The principal office of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court remains in Portland. The 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment , under the command of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain , prevented the Union Army from being flanked at Little Round Top by

7881-417: The glaciers retreated during the last ice age . At the time of European arrival, several Algonquian -speaking nations governed the area and these nations are now known as the Wabanaki Confederacy . The first European settlement in the area was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island , founded by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons . The first English settlement was the short-lived Popham Colony , established by

7992-922: The good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a commodity good is typically determined as a function of its market as a whole: well-established physical commodities have actively traded spot and derivative markets. The wide availability of commodities typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (such as brand name ) other than price. Most commodities are raw materials , basic resources, agricultural , or mining products, such as iron ore , sugar , or grains like rice and wheat . Commodities can also be mass-produced unspecialized products such as chemicals and computer memory . Popular commodities include crude oil , corn , gold and Bitcoin . Other definitions of commodity include something useful or valued and an alternative term for an economic good or service available for purchase in

8103-605: The late 1990s, there were more people working on the NYMEX floor than there was space for them. In 1997, the NYMEX moved to a new building on the Southwestern portion of Manhattan , part of a complex called the World Financial Center . In 2014 the buildings were renamed to Brookfield Place. The NYBOT's original headquarters and trading floor were destroyed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on

8214-542: The late spring and summer months are usually driest—a rarity across the Eastern United States. Maine has fewer days of thunderstorms than any other state east of the Rockies , with most of the state averaging fewer than twenty days of thunderstorms a year. Tornadoes are rare in Maine, with the state averaging two per year, although this number is increasing. Most severe thunderstorms and tornadoes occur in

8325-503: The market treats their instances as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. Karl Marx described this property as follows: "From the taste of wheat , it is not possible to tell who produced it, a Russian serf , a French peasant or an English capitalist ." Petroleum and copper are examples of commodity goods: their supply and demand are a part of one universal market. Non-commodity items such as stereo systems have many aspects of product differentiation , such as

8436-402: The market. In such standard works as Alfred Marshall 's Principles of Economics (1920) and Léon Walras 's Elements of Pure Economics ([1926] 1954) 'commodity' serves as general term for an economic good or service. The word commodity came into use in English in the 15th century, from the French commodité , "amenity, convenience". Going further back, the French word derives from

8547-597: The melting of heavy glacier ice caused a slight rebounding effect of underlying rock; this land rise, however, was not enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea level and its invasion of former land features. Much of Maine's geomorphology was created by extended glacial activity at the end of the last ice age . Prominent glacial features include Somes Sound and Bubble Rock, both part of Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. Carved by glaciers, Somes Sound reaches depths of 175 feet (50 m). The extreme depth and steep drop-off allow large ships to navigate almost

8658-487: The most relevant evidence being the Maine Penny , an 11th-century Norwegian coin found at a Native American dig site in 1954. The first European confirmed settlement in modern-day Maine was in 1604 on Saint Croix Island , led by French explorer Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons . His party included Samuel de Champlain , noted as an explorer. The French named the entire area Acadia , including the portion that later became

8769-671: The north and west of the state, being underlain by the ancient Laurentian terrane , and the south and east underlain by the Avalonian terrane . Acadia National Park is the only national park in New England. Areas under the protection and management of the National Park Service include: Lands under the control of the state of Maine include: Maine has a humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfb ), with warm and sometimes humid summers, and long, cold and very snowy winters. Winters are especially severe in

8880-541: The northern and western parts of Maine, while coastal areas are moderated slightly by the Atlantic Ocean , resulting in marginally milder winters and cooler summers than inland regions. Daytime highs are generally in the 75–85 °F (24–29 °C) range throughout the state in July, with overnight lows in the high 50s   °F (around 15   °C). January temperatures range from highs near 30 °F (−1 °C) on

8991-664: The particular characteristic that it is usually uneconomical to store, and must therefore be consumed as soon as it is produced. Commoditization occurs as a goods or services market loses differentiation across its supply base, often by the diffusion of the intellectual capital necessary to acquire or produce it efficiently. As such, goods that formerly carried premium margins for market participants have become commodities, such as generic pharmaceuticals and DRAM chips . An article in The New York Times cites multivitamin supplements as an example of commoditization;

9102-401: The physical trading floor. A project to preserve the hand signals used at NYMEX has been published. NYMEX closed the pit permanently at the end of trading Friday, December 30, 2016, because of shrinking volume. Commodity exchanges began in the middle of the 19th century, when businessmen began organizing market forums to make buying and selling of commodities easier. These marketplaces provided

9213-421: The potato ban, NYMEX's existence was in doubt. Most of the trading volume had been in potatoes. Without a good commodity, the traders had trouble making money. Eventually, the new chairman, Michel Marks – the son of commodities icon Francis Q. Marks – along with economist Arnold Safer, figured out that NYMEX could revamp an old heating oil futures contract. When the government deregulated heating oil,

9324-562: The racial composition of Maine's population as of 2016. According to the 2016 American Community Survey , 1.5% of Maine's population were of Hispanic or Latino origin (of any race): Mexican (0.4%), Puerto Rican (0.4%), Cuban (0.1%), and other Hispanic or Latino origin (0.6%). The six largest ancestry groups were: English (20.7%), Irish (17.3%), French (15.7%), German (8.1%), American (7.8%) and French Canadian (7.7%). People citing that they are American are of overwhelmingly English descent, but have ancestry that has been in

9435-557: The region for so long (often since the 17th century) that they choose to identify simply as Americans. Maine has the highest percentage of French Americans of any state. Most of them are of Canadian origin, but in some cases have been living there since prior to the American Revolutionary War . There are particularly high concentrations in the northern part of Maine in Aroostook County , which

9546-589: The risk of a " stockout " (inventory exhaustion). According to economist theorists, companies receive a convenience yield by holding inventories of certain commodities. Data on inventories of commodities are not available from one common source, although data is available from various sources. Inventory data on 31 commodities was used in a 2006 study on the relationship between inventories and commodity futures risk premiums. In classical political economy and especially in Karl Marx 's critique of political economy ,

9657-455: The same commodity produced by the skilled worker. Marx pointed out, however, that in society at large, an average amount of time that was necessary to produce the commodity would arise. This average time necessary to produce the commodity Marx called the "socially necessary labour time". Socially necessary labour time was the proper basis on which to base the "exchange value" of a given commodity. Commodity Super Cycles are periods of time, around

9768-467: The same commodity would be consistent and would reflect the amount of labour value used to produce that commodity. Prior to Marx, economists noted that the problem with using the "quantity of labour" to establish the value of commodities was that the time spent by an unskilled worker would be longer than the time spent on the same commodity by a skilled worker. Thus, under this analysis, the commodity produced by an unskilled worker would be more valuable than

9879-484: The sea has been summed up by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay of Rockland and Camden , in "Renascence": All I could see from where I stood Was three long mountains and a wood; I turned and looked the other way, And saw three islands in a bay. Geologists describe this type of landscape as a "drowned coast", where a rising sea level has invaded former land features, creating bays out of valleys and islands out of mountain tops. A rise in land elevation due to

9990-613: The site of the earliest European discovery in the entire US. About 200 years earlier, from the settlements in Iceland and Greenland , the Norse first identified America and attempted to settle areas such as Newfoundland , but failed to establish a permanent settlement. Archeological evidence suggests that Vikings in Greenland returned to North America for several centuries after the initial discovery to trade and collect timber, with

10101-415: The site where the commodity is made, the raw products that are used in the production and the instruments or machines that are used for the production of the commodity. However, not all commodities are reproducible nor were all commodities originally intended to be sold in the market. These priced goods are also treated as commodities, e.g. human labour-power, works of art and natural resources ("earth itself

10212-469: The southern coast to overnight lows averaging below 0 °F (−18 °C) in the far north. The state's record high temperature is 105 °F (41 °C), set in July 1911, at North Bridgton. Precipitation in Maine is evenly distributed year-round, but with a slight summer maximum in northern/northwestern Maine and a slight late-fall or early-winter maximum along the coast due to " nor'easters " or intense cold-season rain and snowstorms. In coastal Maine,

10323-404: The southern terminus of the new International Appalachian Trail which, when complete, will run to Belle Isle , Newfoundland and Labrador . Machias Seal Island and North Rock , off the state's Downeast coast, are claimed by both Canada and the Maine town of Cutler , and are within one of four areas between the two countries whose sovereignty is still in dispute , but it is the only one of

10434-403: The southwestern interior portion of the state, where summer temperatures are often the warmest and the atmosphere is thus more unstable compared to northern and coastal areas. Maine rarely sees the direct landfall of tropical cyclones , as they tend to recurve out to sea or are rapidly weakening by the time they reach the cooler waters of Maine. In January 2009, a new record low temperature for

10545-632: The state of Maine. The Plymouth Company established the first English settlement in Maine at the Popham Colony in 1607, the same year as the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia . The Popham colonists returned to Britain after 14 months. The French established two Jesuit missions: one on Penobscot Bay in 1609, and the other on Mount Desert Island in 1613. The same year, Claude de La Tour established Castine . In 1625, Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour erected Fort Pentagouet to protect Castine. The coastal areas of eastern Maine first became

10656-438: The state the largest producer of lobster in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the population of Maine was 1,344,212 on July 1, 2019, a 1.19% increase since the 2010 United States census . At the 2020 census , 1,362,359 people lived in the state. The state's population density is 41.3 people per square mile, making it the least densely populated state east of the Mississippi River . As of 2010, Maine

10767-620: The state was set at Big Black River of −50 °F (−46 °C), tying the New England record. Annual precipitation varies from 35.8 in (909 mm) in Presque Isle to 56.7 in (1,441 mm) in Acadia National Park. Maine exhibits a diverse range of flora and fauna across its varied landscapes, including forests, coastline, and wetlands. Forested areas consist primarily of coniferous and deciduous trees, such as balsam fir , sugar maple , and its state tree,

10878-630: The support of the rest of the NYMEX board, eventually chose West Texas Intermediate (WTI) as the traded product and Cushing , Oklahoma , as the delivery point. Robin Woodhead, who later became the first chairman of the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) in London started an active dialogue with Treat about whether they could start a Brent Crude oil contracts. Treat was very supportive and gave Woodhead strong support and

10989-602: The takeover was completed in August 2008. Both NYMEX and COMEX now operate as designated contract markets (DCM) of the CME Group. The other two designated contract markets in the CME Group are the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade . The New York Mercantile Exchange handles billions of dollars' worth of oil transactions, energy carriers , metals , and other commodities being bought and sold on

11100-507: The trading floor and the overnight electronic trading computer systems for future delivery. The prices quoted for transactions on the exchange are the basis for prices that people pay for various commodities throughout the world. The floor of the NYMEX is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission , an independent agency of the United States government . Each individual company that trades on

11211-436: The war and refused to defend Maine from British invaders. In 1819, Massachusetts agreed to permit secession, sanctioned by voters of the rapidly growing region the following year. Formal secession from Massachusetts and admission of Maine as the 23rd state occurred on March 15, 1820, as part of the Missouri Compromise , which geographically restricted the spread of slavery and enabled the admission to statehood of Missouri

11322-564: Was accelerated on the back of widespread U.S. industrialization and World War 1. In 1917 commodity prices peaked and then entered a downtrend to the 1930s. As war erupted in Europe in the late 1930s and eventually including the U.S. the world saw a new cycle begin. Countries were not just preparing for war but also the Aftermath of World War II as lots of Europe and Asia faced heavy rebuilding. This cycle eventually peaked in 1951 and faded away in

11433-555: Was also the most rural state in the Union, with only 38.7% of the state's population living within urban areas. As explained in detail under "Geography", there are large tracts of uninhabited land in some remote parts of the interior of the state, particularly in the North Maine Woods . The mean population center of Maine is located in Kennebec County , just east of Augusta. The Greater Portland metropolitan area

11544-407: Was championed by Treat, who, with difficulty, convinced the board and the two Marks family members, veteran and highly respected floor trader Francis Marks and his son, Michael, who had just become chairman of the board, to take a chance on trading crude oil. Arnold Safir was one of the members of an advisory committee formed by Treat to help design the new contract. Treat, with Board Chairman Marks and

11655-435: Was common of exchanges, it was owned by the members who traded there. Later, NYMEX Holdings, Inc., the former parent company of the New York Mercantile Exchange and COMEX, went public and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange on November 17, 2006, under the ticker symbol NMX. On March 17, 2008, Chicago based CME Group signed a definitive agreement to acquire NYMEX Holdings, Inc. for $ 11.2 billion in cash and stock and

11766-612: Was much fought over by the French , English, and allied natives during the 17th and 18th centuries. These natives conducted raids against settlers and each other, taking captives for ransom or, in some cases, kidnapped for adoption by Native American tribes. A notable example was the early 1692 Abenaki raid on York , where about 100 English settlers were killed and another estimated 80 taken hostage. The Abenaki took captives taken during raids of Massachusetts in Queen Anne's War of

11877-461: Was not an issue in that market, but the delivery point was a more difficult choice. After launching the original crude oil futures contract, Treat began an aggressive marketing campaign to first bring in the large US and British oil companies and then moved on to pull in the large Middle East producers. It took almost a year to get the first US "majors" to start trading, but several "majors" did not start for almost 5 years. The initial resistance from

11988-415: Was part of this trend. Jeff Sprecher's Intercontinental Exchange , or ICE, was another example. ICE eventually began trading oil contracts that were extremely similar to NYMEX's, taking away market share almost immediately. The open outcry NYMEX pit traders had always been against electronic trading because it threatened their income and their lifestyle. The executives at NYMEX felt that electronic trading

12099-538: Was physically separate from the rest of Massachusetts. Longstanding disagreements over land speculation and settlements led to Maine residents and their allies in Massachusetts proper forcing an 1807 vote in the Massachusetts Assembly on permitting Maine to secede; the vote failed. Secessionist sentiment in Maine was stoked during the War of 1812 when Massachusetts pro-British merchants opposed

12210-568: Was the only way to keep the exchange competitive. NYMEX teamed up with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to use Globex in 2006. The trading pits emptied out as many traders quit. Banks, hedge funds, and huge oil companies stopped making telephone calls to the pits and started trading directly for themselves over screens. In this period the NYMEX also worked on founding the Dubai Mercantile Exchange in

12321-516: Was unified as York County, Massachusetts under a 1691 royal patent for the Province of Massachusetts Bay . Central Maine was formerly inhabited by the Androscoggin tribe of the Abenaki nation , also known as Arosaguntacook. They were driven out of the area in 1690 during King William's War . They were relocated to St. Francis , Canada, which was destroyed by Rogers' Rangers in 1759, and

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